Magnolia man killed in accident near FM 2978

Published 7:00 pm, Monday, May 13, 2002

Rodney Minzel, 40, was pronounced dead at the scene the next morning by Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Carolyn Cox. The accident occurred on Woodlands Parkway, half a mile east of FM 2978 (Conroe-Huffsmith Road), sometime in the middle of the night.

By Andrew DuBois

An overnight single-vehicle accident in southwest Montgomery County claimed the life of a Magnolia man May 2.

Rodney Minzel, 40, was pronounced dead at the scene the next morning by Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Carolyn Cox. The accident occurred on Woodlands Parkway, half a mile east of FM 2978 (Conroe-Huffsmith Road), sometime in the middle of the night.

Passenger Chad Johnson, 32, of Spring, the owner of the 1998 Chevrolet Z71 black extended-cab pickup truck involved in the accident, was transported via LifeFlight to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. On May 3, a spokesperson from Memorial Hermann reported that Johnson was in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit.

Johnson's wife Jeannie said he was "fine." Department of Public Safety Trooper Angela Fountain said speed played a factor in the accident. The vehicle was heading west on Woodlands Parkway and according to Fountain, crossed over the middle of the road.

Minzel over-corrected and the vehicle struck trees along the road, she said.

The passenger-side door was smashed in, into the shape of a tree trunk, and a center punch tool, which had apparently flown out of the back of the truck, was stuck in a smaller tree near where the vehicle came to rest by the side of the road.

Fountain said Johnson was alert and able to communicate with his wife Jeannie while workers removed the top of the truck and cut him out of the vehicle with a Jaws of Life apparatus.

"I don't know how he survived," Fountain said.

The trooper said Johnson told his wife they had probably been there a couple of hours.

"It was very, very obvious they had been there quite a while," Fountain said.

Jeannie Johnson called in the accident at 5:52 a.m. According to Fountain, Mrs. Johnson was worried when her husband did not return home the night of May 2 and went out looking for the men. The family reportedly has relatives who live in the Ken Lake subdivision off of Woodlands Parkway, where Mrs. Johnson discovered the vehicle.

An empty beer bottle and nearly empty bottle of Crown Royal were found in the truck, said Fountain, who said she detected the smell of alcohol.

"You could smell it," Fountain said. "It was very, very faint."

Cox ordered an autopsy on Minzel, and toxicology tests should be available in six to eight weeks. The two men reportedly are co-owners of a concrete and remodeling company, and, according to Fountain, Mrs. Johnson said Minzel was Chad's step-father.